Hey Guys,
After looking at the TV with the story of the memorial to the victims of the Dublin North strand bombing in 1941 I did a bit of searching for more information. Did not find much. The article in the June mag did not give much more information that is not already out on the net. A rehash really, nobody seems to have any information on the flying side of the bombing such as how many bombers, what were the specific targets what types of planes and which German squadrons were involved and why were they over Dublin. What about the beams, did they exist? Sorry Guys for the questions.
Cheers.

The article was intended only as an introduction to the subject of the North Strand bombings based on Kevin C. Kearns book "The Bombing of Dublins North Strand, 1941". It should be seen in the context of a review of the book itself and as a brief piece to commemorate the anniversary. Unfortunately, many historical articles tend to be 'a rehash' as you somewhat dismissively describe it unless of course they are a first hand account which would be a bit rare with an item that happened 70 years ago. You say "nobody seems to have any information on the flying side of the bombing such as how many bombers, what were the specific targets what types of planes and which German squadrons were involved and why were they over Dublin" yet some of these points are discussed in the brief item.

I am currently looking at the military archives for the period both here and in Germany and until they are researched in full it will not be impossible to confirm "what types of planes and which German squadrons were involved and why were they over Dublin." I don't known how much you know about "the beams" or the X beam (X-Gerät) equipment used by the Luftwaffe but at the risk of "rehashing" some details here goes.

The equipment was used by Kampfgeschwader (KG) 100 a pathfinder unit based in Vannes in Brittany and equipped with the Heinkel He-11H-3.
They were backed up by a system of very sophisticated mobile radio transmitters located in Cherbourg, Calais, and Morlaix. The unit began operations over the UK in August 1940 and was in action up to May 1941 when it began to be redeployed in support of operation 'Barbarossa', the invasion of Russia. The unit took part in all the heavy raids that coincided with bombing in Ireland and it is likely though not yet 'provable' that this unit was involved on the night of 31st May. KG 100 aircraft could be identified by the two large X-Gerate antennas on the rear fuselage and by the unit identity code of '6N'. On 6th November 1940, an X-Gerät-equipped Heinkel He 111 crashed on the English coast at Chesil Beach and its equipment was recovered and the British were able to modify existing jamming equipment in time to successfully disrupt a raid on Birmingham on 19th November. The German's too adapted by switching on their X-Gerät equipment as late as possible to prevent jamming and later by introducing a new device known as Y-Gerät. While KG 100 usually dropped flares in the pathfinder role they also operated in independent raids when they dropped bombs.

In addition to jamming the equipment the units radio traffic was intercepted by intelligence staff at Bletchley Park who had broken the German Enigma system so from mid-September 1940, as the Official British History freely admits that between September 1940 and May 1941, the signals traffic to KG 100 was read "almost every day". In fact by November 1940, Bletchley park staff were aware by mid afternoon of the radio beam settings for targets for the coming evening whenever KG 100 was used in air attacks. However, given the sensitivity of the intelligence information for this period and what another source described as the "dreadfully misleading and suspect Official Histories of the British government" not to mention the incompleteness of some German records (and the fact that they are in
German!!) you can see how difficult it is to get reliable sources information.

It is also a subject that could be dealt with in some detail but unfortunately not at this time and certainly it is outside the scope of the short piece produced for the June Flying in Ireland magazine.

Cheers mate,then the item in the magazine was really a book review ?.
The reason I asked the question was until i moved to Ireland I never had heard that Dublin had been bombed duting the war. Personally your post told me a lot more than the item/book review, following up on that I have since heard that threre was a lot of activity by the German air force in Eire and would like to know more so cheers for that and no offence intended.

Funny you should say about 'first hand' because my Mother (Late RIP) always regaled me with stories about herself and fellow boarders in Eccles Street Dominican Convent, looking out their windows and seeing two 'fighters' fly past their window one chasing the other on the same night as the bombings. Now a plane spotter she wasnt but there you go for what it's worth.

It is a fascinating subject. To get some idea of the German activity over Ireland you only have to look at the number of crashed aircraft see the crash listing in http://www.skynet.ie/~dan/war/intro.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
produced by Denis Burke in Sligo.It also contains a list of links and sources which would be an education in itself. Recently (11th May) there was a talk by Dr. Pat McCarthy entitled 'Battle, Blitz, Blockade and the Weather Forecast - The Luftwaffe and neutral Ireland, 1940 - 1945' in Wynn's hotel in the city centre which explored the pattern of intrusion of Luftwaffe flights into Irish airspace during the Second World War. From your interest you would have enjoyed it and it is a pity that you missed it. We may be able to coax him to write something for us.